WASHINGTON – The United Stated will quit the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal on President-elect Donald Trump’s first day in the White House.

Mr. Trump made the announcement in a video message outlining what he intends to do first when he takes office in January, the BBC reported.

The Pacific trade deal was signed by 12 countries which together cover 40% of the world’s economy.

Trans-Pacific Partnership

The massive trade deal was agreed in 2015 by nations including the US, Japan, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico, but has not yet been ratified by the individual countries. The deal was signed by ministers 12 countries in Auckland last February.

Its aim was to deepen economic ties and boost growth, including by reducing tariffs. There were also measures to enforce labour and environmental standards, copyrights, patents and other legal protections.

But its opponents say it was negotiated in secret and it favored big corporations.

During the US presidential election campaign, Donald Trump described the deal as “another disaster done and pushed by special interests who want to rape our country, just a continuing rape of our country”. In another speech he referred to the TPP as “the greatest danger yet”.

Announcing the plan to pull out of the TPP, he said that the US would “negotiate fair, bilateral trade deals that bring jobs and industry back onto American shores”.

In the video message, Mr Trump said his governing agenda would be based on “putting America first” and that he and the new administration would “bring back our jobs”.

Besides quitting the TPP, he said he would cancel restrictions on US energy production. Last year, President Obama brought in the Clean Power Plan, an anti-climate change measure which aimed to reduce carbon emissions from the power sector by 32% by 2030 compared with 2005 levels.